Video Games sales in U.S. February 2016
In February 2016, decreases in hardware spending as well as new physical software spending led to an overall decrease in physical spending of 12 percent, or $118MM.
NPD Group's U.S. Games Industry Sales (New Physical Sales Channel*) - February 2016
4-week month; Reporting Period 01/31/16 through 02/27/16
Dollar Sales | Feb'15 | Feb'16 | CHG |
|---|---|---|---|
Total Video Game Sales (New Physical Channel) | $960.3M | $842.5M | -12% |
Video Games Hardware | $378.2M | $292.2M | -23% |
Video Games Software (Console+Portable - New Physical Sales only) | $338.9M | $303.9M | -10% |
Video Games Accessories | $243.2M | $246.4M | 1% |
Total Software Sales - (Console+Portable+PC - New Physical Sales Only) | $347.0M | $309.5M | -11% |
Hardware
Video Game Hardware sales dropped by 23 percent in February 2016 compared to last February. The main cause of the decrease was portable hardware, which dropped by 58 percent, or $48MM, due to a difficult comparison to the launch of Nintendo's new 3DS in February 2015 (the number one platform in Feb. 2015).
Console hardware sales suffered due to the dramatic drop off of 23 percent as both seventh and eighth generation consoles experienced declines. Seventh generation console hardware sales dropped by 77 percent, while eighth generation hardware declined a more modest 6 percent. However, the difference in volume between these declines is only $7MM due to the eighth generation now representing 86 percent of all hardware dollar sales.
Software
Ubisoft's Far Cry: Primal was the top game of February 2016 with greater sales than Far Cry 4 when adjusted for the number of days the games sold within their respective launch months.
If sales for Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright, Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest, and the special edition for Fire Emblem Fates were combined, this title would have ranked third for new physical software sales. The combined first month sales of Fire Emblem Fates would more than triple the first month sales of the next-highest game within the franchise, Fire Emblem: Awakening.
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 was the top-selling game on a SKU basis with its PS4 version, and when sales exceeded Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 by 90 percent when normalized for days within the month.
Despite the success of some February 2016 new launches relative to their predecessors, collectively, new launches sold 4 percent less dollars and 12 percent fewer units than those of February 2015.
New physical software trends suffered due to a sharp decline in seventh generation consoles of 52 percent despite the 14 percent or $28MM growth in eighth generation software. Portable software also had a drop of 30 percent due to a poor comparison to the launch of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D, which coincided with the launch of the new 3DS.
| February 2016 Top 10 Games (New Physical Retail only; across all platforms incl. PC) | Rank | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| Far Cry: Primal (PS4, XBO)** | 1 | Ubisoft |
| Call of Duty: Black Ops III (XBO, PS4, 360, PS3, PC)** | 2 | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| Grand Theft Auto V (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3, PC) | 3 | Take 2 Interactive (Corp) |
| Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 (PS4, XBO) | 4 | Bandai Namco Games (Corp) |
| NBA 2K16 (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3)** | 5 | Take 2 Interactive (Corp) |
| Lego Marvel Avengers (PS4, 360, XBO, NWU, PS3, 3DS, PSV) | 6 | Warner Bros. Interactive |
| Street Fighter V (PS4)** | 7 | Capcom USA |
| Minecraft (360, XBO, PS4, PS3) | 8 | Microsoft (Corp) |
| Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright (3DS) | 9 | Nintendo |
| Fallout 4 (PS4, XBO, PC)** | 10 | Bethesda Softworks |
Accessories
Accessory spending increased a modest 1 percent in February 2016 compared to last February due to increases of video game point and subscription cards, gamepads, and headsets/headphones.
On a 12-month rolling basis, video game point and subscription card sales exceeded $1 billion for the first time.